Behaviour in lessons improves as Mansfield school addresses criticism by Ofsted

The Samworth Church Academy, which has about 1,050 youngsters on its books, is being monitored by the education watchdog, Ofsted, because its last two full inspections, in 2022 and 2019, both resulted in disappointing ratings of ‘Requires Improvement’.

Among the criticisms two years ago was that “many pupils do not behave well in lessons, and sometimes this goes unchallenged" by teachers.

However, an interim monitoring inspection, carried out by Ofsted inspectors in March, found that “a new behaviour policy has raised expectations of pupils’ conduct”.

In a letter to the school, inspector Paul Halcro said: “In lessons visited, pupils had positive attitudes to learning and no low-level disruption was observed. Staff are positive about the changes, and recognise that behaviour has improved.”

Mr Halcro noted that “suspensions have increased”, but that disruptive pupils “get support to help reduce the number of repeat suspensions”.

Samworth, which is a Church Of England establishment, was known as Sherwood Hall School until becoming an academy in 2008 with sponsorship support from food businessman Sir David Samworth, who died two years ago. It is run by the Diocese Of Southwell and Nottingham Multi-Academy Trust.

The inspector praised the trust for “providing support” and helping the school to “implement a clear improvement plan to address the areas identified” at its 2022 review.

Those areas also included the fact that “a sizeable minority of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not attend school frequently enough and miss too many lessons”.

Mr Halcro found that a new member of staff had been appointed to lead on attendance and that “clear processes and systems” were now in place.

But attendance was “still too low” and “sustainable improvements are not yet evident”, so “more work needs to be done in this area”.

In contrast, the inspection detected improvements in the way lessons are structured, meaning that a previous criticism – gaps in pupils’ learning and understanding – was now being addressed.

The 2022 inspection rated Samworth ‘Good’ for its personal development of pupils and its sixth form provision. But the overall findings were the subject of “a substantial and wide-ranging complaint” by the school and trust, who were unhappy about “unprofessional and inaccurate comments”.

Trust chief Chris Moodie said he was “saddened and dismayed” by the Ofsted report and the way its inspectors had conducted themselves.

And the school’s principal, Lisa McVeigh, said it was “difficult to accept some of the comments that are overly generic” and wondered “how the inspection team took no account of the challenges facing schools and young people following the pandemic”.

After this monitoring inspection, Mrs McVeigh said: “We are happy that the work the whole Samworth community has put into improving the academy has been recognised by this interim inspection.

“We still have a wide-ranging agenda for our students and work to do to continue to improve.

“However, we are grateful for the team effort of staff, our multi-academy trust, governors, families and, most importantly, our wonderful students in getting us to this point.”